Reading in Progress: The Wise Man's Fear

[Super Pony]

Okay, so I know I am two years late to the party on this book. That being said, whaaaaaaat am I reading!?!? I am elbows deep in this story (too far to turn back now), but the talent Mr. Rothfuss has with flowery prose is the only sugar helping this bitter pill go down. Thus far it is just acres of text about every.moment.of Kvothe's life. Don't get me wrong, there have been some seriously great moments. But at least half of this page count could be edited away it seems. I'm fine with the copious world building, though I appreciate fantasy worlds that aren't spoon fed (or shot through a fire hose in this case), with a little mystery held over just for the author or maybe a future book. But.enough.with.economics Rothfuss. There is more word count given to making change for a silver piece (in different countries) than any reader needs to enjoy the story. And he orbits a plot point so many times before resolving, that when something DOES conclude I've already simply resolved myself to power through and there isn't even much "hurrah" in it.

Sorry this came out kind of ranty. I DO like this story, but it can be like listening to a really tight freeform jazz ensemble at times. Rothfuss can tell a mean story, but he could also write a 900 page weaponized tome about toothpaste before ever even getting to something like "Once upon a time..."

 

[Crothian]

Most books of that size like Jordan and Martin I agree with you. But Patrick for some reason keeps me interested even when talking about giving change. I love the details and really think it enhances the story. His style is different from much of the fantasy we are getting these days and I appreciated that. But it is the way the book is and the next one so just expect more of the same.

 

[Super Pony]

I made it a bit further in! I will conquer the mountain. I may only end up bloodier for it in the end, but I can at least say I never gave up. And I do agree with you Crothian, inasmuch that Rothfuss has a great way with words, even when he is simply swirling the reader around and around to no real purpose.

Spoiler Territory:

Spoiler

I survived the Eld and Felurian! There should be t-shirts for this. If there are, I will gladly buy one. All in all some interesting little vignettes materialized amidst the uneven backdrop.

• Spoiler

  I thought the Cthaeh was a cool Alice in Wonderland style interaction. But I also have a bit of a weakness for that kind of thing. More than anything it provided a welcome reprieve from Sex Academy 204: The Boning of Nymphs. Though the section where Baast freaks out in the "present" about the Cthaeh was over-wrought and heavy handed. Kvothe's "oh gee duhur" attitude about it was also sort of disappointing. He seems to know so much about where he's been and all the trials and tribulations that lead him to his current stint in purgatory...but the Cthaeh's considerable influence never ever occurred to him. Instead of showing him to be imperfect and fallible it just made him seem like a goof. I will retract this if, in the end, it turns out that Kvothe was lying his arse off to Baast about it. Still, a groovy bit of awesome with the temporal blight that is the Cthaeh. I rather like it better than the Chandrian
• Spoiler

  I did like Felurian at first. But she seemed to become more bland as the pages and chapters wore on, until she was little more than a mouthpiece for the Fae realm's setting. Luckily it's a proper faerie land. Still, Rothfuss played up a good NPC D&D nymph here. Fairly well done.
• Spoiler

  Having Kvothe "break free" of Felurian only to spend a considerable page-count afterward with more stuff between him and Felurian felt like a bad joke at first. I kept thinking...oh man she tricked him into thinking he tricked her! Brilliant!...oh wait. She had better come a-hunting for the wayward Kvothe in the end, or she will have been a real letdown.
• Spoiler

  I liked Tempi despite him being a roughshod pile of tropes. It's a testament to Patrick's writing that he can take a wornout old shoe of a character and shape it into someone that we can care about.
• Spoiler

  The bandit encampment was a nice bit of anime overload Full Metal Alchemist action theater, and I liked that things were beginning to go all Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay bad for the group before Kvothe Ex Machina stepped in. The Cinder tie-in was lame balls though. If you are going to give us a taste of the vaportrail of the Chandrian...do it up man...make us hate or fear them. The post facto "oooh he was the bandit leader" fell utterly flat for me. Why weren't the fires burning blue? or any of the other telltales of the Chandrian? Lame ass.
• Spoiler

  One thing that I thought I was going to dislike was Kvothe's embracing of and promoting his rock star status. But then I thought...about damn time. Fiction needs more Ciaphas Cains, braggarts, and self-puffed heroes. The noble Sir Galahad with ultimate power is worn out. Thus far Kvothe's been something of the innocent child hero, and it's cool to see him succumb to his own image a bit. It's a much more sleak and sexy way to humanize Kvothe than "oops I'm wrong, derp" that we saw in the Cthaeh plot angle. I'm still on board if Kvothe turns out to have knowingly and foolishly buggered the dog. Even better if we get to the end and want him dead ourselves .

Next up I'm headed to Ademre. Hopefully Rothfuss didn't just get me to like Tempi so that he could send me out to a small box in the middle of a field where I shout "what's in the box!? what's in the box!?"